A pilot helped make the difference during Tuesday night’s high speed chase in Marion County. Pleasantville Police Chief Joe Mrstik tells KNIA/KRLS News that an officer originally attempted to pull 50-year-old Melvin Collis over after they ran the license plate on the vehicle he was driving and found it matched a different vehicle. When the officer hit his lights, Mrstik says Collis took off.

At one point during the chase, officers backed off from Collis’s vehicle due to safety concerns. A local pilot had been following the chase from the air and was able to notify authorities where Collis was headed. Both Mrstik and Sheriff Jason Sandholdt say the pilot’s help was invaluable. They add that they normally don’t encourage the public’s help in chases such as this, but say this was a special circumstance as the pilot was safe in the sky.